page_title: Water resources management in Guatemala
section_title: Major lakes & reservoirs
hierarchical_section_title: Water resources management in Guatemala / Water resource base / Major lakes & reservoirs
caption_attribution_description: Amatitlansee,oben rechts Pacaya-Komplex
context_page_description: Guatemala faces substantial resource and institutional challenges in successfully managing its national water resources. Deforestation is increasing as the global demand for timber exerts pressure on the forests of Guatemala. Soil erosion, runoff, and sedimentation of surface water is a result of deforestation from development of urban centers, agriculture needs, and conflicting land and water use planning. Sectors within industry are also growing and the prevalence of untreated effluents entering waterways and aquifers has grown alongside.
  Untreated wastewater contaminates water resources as well where treatment facilities are inadequate. Populations are unequally distributed and this creates challenges of conveyance. In a mountainous country this can easily be mitigated with gravity fed systems. Where water pumps are needed, water delivery is much more expensive and can be a barrier to consistent access.
  Guatemala is also facing institutional challenges, mostly due to a lack of coordination among the different agencies responsible for water resources management where duplication of efforts and responsibility gaps exist.
context_section_description: Guatemala has 23 major lakes and another 119 that all encompass an area of 950 km². Storage capacity for up to half of the lakes in Guatemala is used solely for hydroelectric energy generation and the volume of water is on the order of 524 million m³. The Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam is the largest of the hydroelectric reservoirs with an effective capacity of 275 MW which supplies 15% of the countries electricity demand.
  An important lake to highlight located near Guatemala City is the once pristine Lake Amatitlán which is now long degraded from years of domestic and industrial dumping, and deforestation. Each year large quantities of untreated sewage, industrial effluent and around 500,000 tons of sediment are carried into Lake Amatitlán through the lake's primary inflow source, the Villalobos River, causing high levels of water pollution and an accelerated rate of eutrophication and siltation.
  The lake is drained by the Michatoya River which is a tributary of the María Linda River and the town of Amatitlán is located at the head of the Michatoya river. A dam with a railway on top was constructed at the narrowest point, thus effectively dividing the lake into two water bodies with different physical, chemical and biological characteristics. The lake is used as a water source for navigation and transportation, sightseeing and tourism, recreation, and fisheries.
  The Lake Atitlán basin is a closed watershed or endorheic lake located in the volcanic highlands of Guatemala. This lake is the deepest lake in Central America with estimated depths of at least 340 meters, however much of the lake has not been completely sounded for depth therefore accurate capacity is not well understood. Competing uses place high demand on the waters of Lake Atitlán and serious problems of water pollution, soil erosion, and forest loss are prevalent. In 1996 the Authority for the Sustainable Management of the Atitlán Basin (AMSCLAE) was established which produced a Master Plan in 2000. However, the plan is still under revision and only a few measures are actually being implemented.
caption: Lake Amatitlán.
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